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“This is the strangest date,” she grumbled, taking a seat next to me on the bench.
I laughed. “Have you everbeenon a date?”
She lifted her nose with an affronted air and shoved her foot into her first skate. “I’ve been on dates, ass. They usually involve food and some form of entertainment, preferably the naked kind.”
Her gaze dragged over my sweats, and I resisted the urge to start stripping immediately. She was trying to use sex to distance us, exactly as Stephen predicted. I wasn’t taking the easy out.
“This should be plenty entertaining, and I provided foodandcoffee this morning.”
Eva’s eyes narrowed. “True, but you also barged in on my sleeping time. I’ll give you a pass since you provided the right kind of coffee.”
“Are you going to stall all morning or are we going to skate?”
She blew a strand of hair away from her face. “I’m going as fast as I can. Not all of us are hockey superstars.”
“Here let me.” I crouched in front of her and reached for the second skate she was struggling with. Eva didn’t protest as I tightened and tied the laces. I let my hand drift up her calf as I released her, and she rewarded me with a tiny inhale.
I stood and took her hand, intending to help her get to the ice, but when she rose with fluid grace, only inches separated us.
“Since you like bets so much, how about another one?”
Intrigued, I ran my thumb over her fingers. “What are we betting on?”
Eva glanced over my shoulder at the rink. “A race. Double or nothing. If I win,youhire a cleaning service.”
“What about the grocery shopping and food prep?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I’d be getting food delivered anyway. It’s not too much harder to add you guys to the order.”
“And if I win?”
Her icy eyes blazed with fire, and she shifted forward until I felt her breath on my lips. “You get another date.”
“You’re on,” I whispered, sealing it with a surprisingly sweet kiss.
Eva leaned into me, silently asking for more, but I wasn’t rushing this. I eased away, brushing my nose along hers. If this date didn’t show her how good it could be between us, I’d try another. And another. Until every one of her walls had crumbled at my feet.
I could be very stubborn when it came to something—or someone—I wanted.
Her bet simply gave me an easy in. Clearly, I’d prefer if she admitted she wanted another date rather than using a thinly veiled excuse, but at this point, I’d take what I could get. She wasn’t going to win a race with me. Case in point, she nearly fell over as soon as we moved toward the open door.
I steadied her with my hands at her hips. “Do you want me to give you some pointers first?”
She slapped at my touch. “How hard could it be? You just glide around in circles.”
I chuckled. “Okay, Princess. You sure you want to do this?”
Her jaw firmed, and she gripped the sideboards as she carefully eased herself out onto the ice. “Yes. We race from here to the far blue line. I’ll count down from three, and we go on ‘go’.”
With a shake of my head, I lined up next to her. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“Three, two, one… go!”
I pushed off lazily, ready to catch her if she fell, but Eva was already gone. She took off in a blaze of speed, and by the time I realized I needed to catch her, the race was over.
Eva crossed the line seconds ahead of me and flipped herself around to skate backward at a fast clip with a huge grin on her face. “What’s the matter, Gavin? Not used to losing on the ice?”
I let out a laugh. Stephen had played me—Eva had played me—but I still had what I’d wanted. Time with her in a place where she didn’t have to be anyone but herself. I caught up to her easily and matched her speed, biding my time. She was smiling at me, full of joy, and I’d gladly lose a million races to keep that look on her face.
